Israel Solved the Jewish Refugee Problem for the World, Sharett Says

March 6, 1959

STOCKHOLM (Mar. 5)

Appealing for maximum aid for the East European immigrants arriving in Israel, former Premier and Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett told a Stockholm Jewish community rally last night that the question of what to do about Jewish refugees had been removed from the international agenda by the establishment of Israel.

“My message is an appeal to action,” he said. “The establishment of Israel meant a change in the fate of the Jewish refugees who were subject to the mercy of foreign countries.” It now depends on all of us if the Jewish refugees are to be saved, for Jews are not indifferent when danger threatens another Jewish community, he added.

“What would we do with the Rumanian Jews if it were not for Israel?” he asked. “Would we perhaps ask the United States to receive 50, 000 to 100, 000 Jews from Communist countries?” In Israel, he said, “there is no one without bread or housing for a single night, thanks also to the assistance of the whole Jewish people in the free world.”